


What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

by helplesslynerdy



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Deleted Scene, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-12
Updated: 2013-07-12
Packaged: 2017-12-19 06:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/880758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helplesslynerdy/pseuds/helplesslynerdy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wanted to know where Rose got that edible ball-bearing cake at the end of 'Fear Her.' Here's my answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

_What becomes of the broken hearted,_

_who had love that’s now departed?_

_\-------------------------------_

“I’ve gone too far.”

The Doctor could no longer support himself and fell to his knees in the snow with a soft crunch.

“Is this it? My death?” he rasped.

The Ood cocked its head to the side, refusing to speak.

The Doctor grew more desperate. “Is it time?”

The Ood then faded from view.

The Doctor rose, and with trembling hands unlocked the TARDIS. He took off his coat and went to stand in front of the console. This time he had thoroughly mucked it all up. _Brave Adelaide…_ If only he had had someone with him, someone to stop him before he went too far. His mind immediately went to Rose. She would have held him back, made him stop. She always made him better. Rose was again lost to him- there was no way he could see her again without messing up the timelines.

Suddenly, the Doctor’s brain went down a dangerous tangent. He had already ruined one timeline- why not try another? What did he have to lose now? He needed Rose, needed her back with him. Maybe she could help divert his impending doom. Even if she couldn’t, if his life was about to end, it might as well be with her by his side.

The TARDIS sensed the danger of the Doctor’s thoughts, and rang the cloister bell.

The Doctor was already scanning his memories, trying to find a time when they would have been separated. “No,” he growled as the bell sounded again. He furiously began setting the coordinates for 27 July 2012.

\----------------

_I walk in shadows,_

_searching for light._

_Cold and alone,_

_no comfort in sight._

_\----------------_

Rose walked down the street, watching the sky fade from a soft blue to murky black. Of course the Doctor had been the one to save the day and light the Olympic torch. Show-off. He’d be insufferable for the next couple of days. “Rose, did you see how brilliant I was? That bloke, the lactic acid factory, stumbled and there I was, neat as you please! Did I look sexy on the telly? (Insert some flirtatious eyebrow waggling). The Olympic dream carries on because the Doctor came to call!” Rose rolled her eyes indulgently.

Now where was he? Rose turned around, realizing that she had wandered a little farther than she had realized. She turned a corner, and in the deserted street she saw a flash of brown. There he was. The Doctor was suddenly running towards her. She grinned, and ran to meet him.

The Doctor caught her, and before Rose had time to react- wait, blue suit- he took her face into both hands and covered her mouth with his. She gasped, and the Doctor immediately took advantage and deepened the kiss. He was now holding her inconceivably close, arms so tightly wound that he was almost touching his own torso. Her hands slid up his chest, around his neck, and wove into his hair. Rose’s mind went blissfully blank as his lips continued to move against hers. The Doctor’s kiss was desperate, as if he was afraid that she would dissolve into the night air.

Rose finally broke away, and the Doctor buried his face in her neck. Rose became concerned as she felt something wet trickle across the curve of her neck. “Doctor? Doctor, what’s wrong?”

He reluctantly pulled back, and she was finally able to get a clear look at his face. She took in a sharp breath as her eyes darted across every part of him. The blue suit, the hair that was shorter and much more disarrayed- his Chucks were now red! Even the Doctor’s face looked liked it had impossibly aged- it was thinner and there were more wrinkles around his eyes.

Those eyes. They were the most changed. His now-clear eyes were dark, almost black, and _wild_. It was as if something had inside him had snapped.

Rose took a small step back. “Doctor? What’s going on? You’re not you. I mean, you’re not the Doctor that just lit the Olympic torch, are you? You’re from the future.”

The Doctor did not bat an eye. “No, Rose. I had to change because of a stray drink spill on my way out of the stadium. Grabbed the closest things I could find in my closet.”

Rose shook her head, refusing to be put off. “No, even your face is different. Older, even. What is going on?”

“Now, Rose,” he said patronizingly. “A man takes a shower, finds something a bit different to wear to celebrate, and experiments with some new hair gel and you immediately come to the conclusion that I’m from the future? And OLDER? I’m trying very hard to not be insulted.”

Rose’s expression relaxed, albeit infinitesimally. “You have to admit it’s a bit weird, even for you. And the…” she blushed and looked away.

The Doctor relaxed as well, thinking his ruse was succeeding. “Oh, you know. Heat of the moment, pretty girl at the Games. Just finished saving the Olympic dream- well, I may have got a little caught up.”

Her face fell as he continued, but the Doctor tried to not focus on her disappointment. He took her hand and pulled her along. He figured they had about a half hour until he had to worry about running into his previous self. He could tell she still wasn’t totally convinced, and he wanted to be perfectly sure she was buying it before he risked anything.

“The TARDIS is this way, Rose. Let’s go.”

“But I thought we were going to the Games.”

“We are, I just wanted to move her out from in-between those rubbish skips.” He had conveniently found skips in an identical place on a neighboring street.

His plan, though held together by cello tape, had not collapsed yet.

\------------------------

_I know I'm gonna find a way._

_nothing’s gonna stop me now,_

_I'll find a way somehow._

_\-------------------------_

Rose still had the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. All of this from Doctor who evades everything? Avoids the tension between them like the plague? And then, after an adventure that was _not_ anywhere near their most life threatening, he now snogs her within an inch of her life? Something was definitely up. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she still trusted the Doctor enough to continue with him- doppelgänger though he may be.

As they walked through the suburban sprawl, they happened upon a small bakery that was still open. Rose slowed to check out the wares.

She crouched in front of the window. “Doctor, look! Cupcakes! And these even come with those little edible ball bearings you were nattering on about earlier.”

The Doctor froze. The cupcake. This was where she had gotten that little cupcake she had brought to him. No. She was not going back now. He deserved this happiness; he _deserved_ to have Rose back.

Rose turned and saw that the Doctor’s gaze had hardened; the wildness in his eyes was back.

“Doctor? What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“Rose, just come with me.” The Doctor took her hand, which instinctively laced fingers with his, and began to tug her towards his TARDIS.

“No. Not until you tell me what’s really going on.” She stopped and went to drop his hand.

His grasp became a vice-grip, and he began pulling her along harder.

“Doctor, you’re hurting me.”

Rose’s words were the first thing to make him remember himself. He dropped her hand as if it had burned him, and backed away. “Rose, I…” His jaw continued to work, though no sound came.

Rose bit her lip and stepped towards him. She hesitantly lifted her hand to cup his cheek, as her eyes searched his. The storm that had raged just moments ago had abated; his normally buoyant brown were now lost and broken.

“Doctor, what happened to you?”

\-------------------------------------

_Oh, he is lost, there's no place for beginning,_

_all that's left is an unhappy ending._

_\--------------------------------------_

“You _are_ from the future, aren’t you? And if you’re trying to take me now- _oh_.”

The Doctor’s eyes shot up to her face.

Rose’s eyes were now focused on his hand that she had taken back into hers. “I’m dead, aren’t I?” she whispered, as her thumb brushed against the soft hair on his hand.  “In your present, I’m not there.”

“No, Rose. No,” he rebutted. “You’re alive and happy.”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t be. I’m obviously not with you.”

A half-smile came to his face. “My precious girl,” he breathed as his fingers slowly traced down her cheek.

After a moment, Rose’s brow knitted and she stepped back. “Why in the universe would you risk trying to take me, Doctor?” Her voice steadily rose in volume and pitch. “What about timelines and Reapers? What are you thinking, if at all? How could you do something so dangerous?”

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t thinking if I’m honest. I just needed you with me.” His face, that had frantically been looking everywhere but her, stopped and turned to the pavement. “I did some things…” his voice cracked. “They went wrong. You weren’t there to stop me. You weren’t there to make me better.”

Rose’s eyes filled with tears, but she stayed back. “Doctor, you can’t risk the universe. I’m not worth that.” He started to protest, but she raised a hand to silence him. “I don’t know what happens between my present and yours, but I do know this. You are strong enough to go on without me. We always knew that my time with you was limited…” her voice got softer. “’Curse of the Time Lords,’ yeah? There would always have been a day when you would have to move on. And the man that I love is definitely strong enough to do that.”

The Doctor stilled at the conviction in her voice. “I don’t know if I can anymore.”

“You can,” Rose said firmly. She closed the distance between them and brought her hands up to frame his face. “You have to. The universe needs you, Doctor. That will never change.”

His eyes closed as a solitary tear tracked down his face. She gently brushed it away with her thumb. “None of that now,” she whispered. “Oncoming Storm, my foot.” He laughed despite himself as she grinned up at him. “Now that we’ve got that settled, you are going to buy me one of those cupcakes.”

The Doctor let out a shuddering breath, and gave her his own smile. “Anything for you, Dame Rose.”

He brought back three cupcakes, two of which they ate as they continued walking, but now instead towards where his past self’s TARDIS was parked.

“Rose, I really can’t express what masterpieces these ball bearings are. Thousands of years into the future, mankind will not improve upon them.” Rose smiled, glad that he seemed more himself.

The Doctor soon slowed, and looked at her with a tinge of regret. “This is where I have to leave. He’s, well - _I’m_ about five minutes away now.”

Rose looked up at the Doctor, and then wrapped her arms around his neck in a fierce hug. As she began to slowly pull back, his grip around her waist loosened, and he began to let her go. Rose searched his eyes, then took his face into her hands and pulled it back down to hers. She tried to convey how much she loved him through each caress of her lips, knowing that it would probably be the last time he would see her. The Doctor was much less insistent than before and tried to cherish this stolen moment.

The kiss slowed, and the Doctor leaned his forehead against hers. “I really have to go now.” He took several steps back. “But don’t forget this.” He picked up the bag that held the last cupcake off the pavement and handed it to her.

“I love you,” the Doctor blurted, not wanting it to go unsaid any longer.

Rose smiled, though tears were filling her eyes. “I know.”

“Cheeky.” They both chuckled, and Rose turned and began walking away. She then turned back and said, “Be happy, Doctor. Go have some more crazy adventures. Live a fantastic life. For me.”

“I’ll try my best, Rose Tyler.” He then watched her until she disappeared around the corner. He walked to where his TARDIS sat, and unlocked the doors. “Well, you both were right, and I’m back and haven’t ruined anything. Much.”

He realized then that when she had stated that they would never, ever be separated- We'll always be okay, you and me- she had just been trying to comfort him from the past. She had already known there would come a day when she was no longer physically with him.

The Doctor mentally shook himself and remembered that his death was still looming. “I never found out why Elizabeth the First wanted my head, what say we go find out what I did?”

**Author's Note:**

>  _Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I probably ever, own_ Doctor Who _or its brilliant characters._
> 
> _Lyrics are from “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” by Jimmy Ruffin._
> 
> _The dialogue from the first section is from 'The Waters of Mars.'_


End file.
